Dead Space: Whiteout
by jakers75
Summary: When the mining colony of Polis IV is overrun by strange creatures, amnesiac engineer Saya Reesman and P-Sec officer Neil Cohen must work together to survive and escape.
1. Chapter 1

The first thing Saya Reesman noticed upon waking was the blinding white light hanging above her. The second was the searing cold against the exposed skin of her arms. She reached her fingers out to try and find something to gain her bearings, but she failed to grab a hold of anything. After a moment of fumbling, she found the side of the bed, and Saya tried to pull herself up.

She was abruptly stopped by a sharp pain in her lower back. The pinprick of heat seemed to course through her body, and she dropped back down. Panting, she opened her eyes, trying to look past the light. Reaching her hands out, she saw that she could make out the black outlines of them. After a moment, she slowly sat up enough to slip her hand to the small of her back where the pain had originated.

She gritted her teeth at the flash of pain, but she managed to keep still while she felt the area gently. Her fingertips brushed against the bump of a bandage, and just even the act of examining the site caused her agony. She took her hand away and gripped the side of the bed. This time, she brought herself to a sitting position.

The room was bare, she noticed, Spartan in its minimalism. The walls were a dull grey, and the only other thing in the room besides her bed and the lamp above it was a small tray next to the bed. On further inspection, she noted the stethoscope, hammer, and other small doctor's trinkets lying in a row on the tray. Saya pulled herself to the side of the bed slowly, turning her gaze to the door on the opposite side of the room.

She expected someone to come now that she had awoken. As she waited, she tried to remember why exactly she was here. She was wearing a medical gown, so she must have been sick, but as hard as she thought, Saya couldn't remember being ill. In fact, she couldn't remember anything about this place at all. She squinted. The last thing she did recall was examining the colony's mine with her fellow engineers, although she couldn't think of the reason why. Suddenly, she heard a voice. It sounded male, but at the same time, its enunciation sounded too rough and distorted to be normal. She froze in her chair and stared at the door, but no one came through. Saya slipped her feet over the side of the bed, and almost recoiled at the cold floor as she stood. All she wanted to do right now was go to sleep, but something wasn't right. Someone should have been here to check up on her. Even the room itself was odd. It wasn't like other medical rooms she remembered – it took on a degree of clinical objectivity that was unnerving.

She swallowed nervously and began for the door. Her footsteps were the only sound aside from the low, constant hum of the ventilation system, and her stomach clenched slightly as she approached. When she reached the door, she extended her hand and knocked lightly on the metal surface.

"Hello?" Her voice was hoarse, she noticed. After a moment of waiting, she rapped on the door again, "Hello? Is anyone there?"

Again, there was silence. She cleared her throat and reached for the door handle. It opened with no resistance, which was surprising. Saya thought it would have been locked, considering she was in a medical facility. Regardless, she stepped out into the hallway and looked down each side. Aside from a couple of carts with paperwork on them, nothing notable was out in the open. A quick glance to the left side revealed that the hallway ended, so she began the other way.

She shuffled around the corner and looked down the hall, which was also empty. She paced down the corridor, but the sensation of dread in her stomach continued to grow. She almost didn't notice the door that was propped open, but the sudden, strong smell coming from the room made Saya pause. Her stomach twisted in anxiety, but if anything could shed some light on her current situation, it would be worth it. With trembling fingers, she reached out and pushed the door inward. She had felt something wasn't right, but there had been no way of knowing the extent of what actually happened until she saw the inside of the room.

The room was empty like hers had been with one exception: the walls were copiously splattered with blood. The acrid stench came over her and forced her to stumble back as she brought her hand to her mouth in shock. There was no body, but the air vent in the room had been broken, and a trail of blood led into it. Saya ran down the hall, not even glancing back at the room. All that mattered now was finding someone else.

When she came to the corner, she took a cautious look. There was no one, for better or worse, but in the middle of the next hall, a small desk was set in a central position. Her heart leapt – if there was a communications unit there, maybe she could get in contact with someone. Saya was all too aware of the sounds her bare feet made on the floor as she approached. It seemed now that at any second, she would hear another pair approaching.

Once at the desk, she fumbled around the mess looking for anything that could help her. She pushed aside stacks of paperwork until a small metal object caught her eye – a small on-ear device. Grabbing it quickly, Saya opened it to all frequencies, put it to her ears, and exclaimed breathlessly, "Hello? Is anyone there?"

The silence of the radio frightened her more than any possible response could. She was about to examine it to make sure it wasn't broken when a voice came through.

"Hello? This is Sergeant Cohen speaking. Who are you and what's your location?" The voice was male and authoritative.

"Saya Reesman, and…I'm in a medical station, sir," she answered, her eyes scanning the corridor for anyone or anything. The sergeant was silent for a moment before answering, and this time, his tone was confused.

"I'm registering your location on the opposite side of the base as the medical station. Are you sure?"

"I don't know. There's medical equipment everywhere, and I'm in a hospital gown, but I don't recognize this place at all," she replied, trying to make things as clear as possible for him. It was difficult, though, when she hardly knew anything herself.

"Look…I can't get a good reading like this. You don't have your RIG on, do you?"

"No. I just woke up in the gown."

"Where's everyone else? It's not safe be alone."

"I don't know. All the rooms are empty and I haven't seen anyone else yet."

"Alright. Just keep that com device with you, and get yourself a suit. From there, I can lead you over here. Oh, and find a weapon."

"Will I need one?" she asked. Her fears were confirmed, and there was so much she wanted to know. The longer she just stood here, the more she felt as if something unwelcome was going to round the corner.

"I don't know if things there are as bad as they are here, but there's been an infection of some kind. When they died, people just began to change into these…things. No one knows what they are, but that doesn't stop them from killing you and making you into one of them."

"I saw a bloodstain earlier, but there was no body," she stated, more to see what his reaction would be than anything else.

"Shit…You gotta get a suit and find the rest of us. There's an evac shuttle coming soon, so there's no time to mess around."

"I'll look," she said, stepping away from the desk, "But I want to know what happened."

"I'll tell you everything you want to know when you get here. First thing first, though. Get the RIG so I can get a lock on your position. I'll be in touch if you need me."

Saya frowned as the sergeant went silent. His voice was comforting, even though he wasn't in a position to give her much help. It wasn't his absence that made her anxious, though. His news of an infection was troubling, to say the least. Almost unconsciously, she shot a glance at the hallway from where she had come, but like before, it was empty. She stepped away from the desk and looked around, wondering where her things were stored.

Then suddenly, an idea struck her. She went back to the desks and began fishing in the papers. If this was a secretary's station, they would have to give directions. And that meant that more than likely, there was a map. Rifling through the drawers, she quickly found what she was looking for. The floor plan was minimal in its presentation, but it would be sufficient.

Gripping it with one hand, the other went to her back to very gently massage the area where the bandage was while she read the map. By now, the pain had faded into an intense soreness. Saya quickly located her position on the map and searched around for anything that denoted a storage area. She noted what seemed like an unusual amount of laboratories, but as an engineer, her experience with a typical hospital was limited. Finally, she settled on a room marked "Patient Processing", deciding that was the place most likely to have her things. She folded the paper up and began to follow the directions.

Although she was half-expecting to be ambushed the entire time, Saya eventually found her way to a small waiting room that seemed to connect with a larger lobby. On one side of the room was a door marked "Storage", and with renewed hope she quickly walked towards it. She was about to turn the handle when she heard a thump from the other side. She froze, jumped back, and put her hands up in a brief approximation of a boxer's stance. If she was going to die, she wasn't going to go out quietly.

The door remained still, as did Saya, the image of the open air duct persisting in her mind. Time seemed to drag, and seconds felt like hours before she stepped forward carefully. She had to get in the storage room. If she was smart about it, maybe she could trick whatever was inside into coming outside. Once that was accomplished, she could quickly run into the room, and with any luck, lock it out. She pushed the lock display on the side, and with a hiss, the door opened.

It wasn't a monster, but a corpse that came crashing down. She jumped back from the body as it fell, remembering the sergeant's warnings about infection. Adrenaline drove her heart to beat faster until she noticed the bullet wound to the side of the head and the pistol still clutched in its limp hand.

A quick glance to the inside of the room confirmed her suspicions – the splatter on this wall was from the suicide of whoever this was. One shot to the man's head and it had all been over. She suddenly felt herself wondering what he must have experienced. He must have thought that there had been absolutely no hope for him, that no one was coming.

She suddenly saw the wound with renewed clarity, and Saya's stomach finally gave in. She turned and heaved, coughing at the floor. Tears stung at her eyes, but she knew the suit was inside. She forced herself not to look at the dead man, and stepped inside the storage room. The door hissed behind her as it shut, and that made her feel a little better as long as she didn't look at the gore-stained wall.

Instead, she went to the back where the lockers were. The series of tall, metal containers were each marked with tags displaying numbers and names. There had to be at least a dozen, and she would have passed one of them had her name not caught her eye.

"Subject 7; Reesman, Saya," the tag read. In addition, there were numbers she assumed were also identification of some sort, but none of them seemed familiar to her. She hesitantly extended her hand, unsure if the container would open at her touch or not, but the metal door slid open with one button push. Apparently whoever made this room trusted that no one unauthorized would enter.

The first thing she discerned inside was her RIG suit. The sight of it made her sigh in relief as she grabbed it. The armored suit had saved her life more than once while on the job. This meant she had also just completed her first step to figuring out the current situation. She set it aside for the moment as she grabbed the plasma cutter that had been lying next to it. A miner and engineer's tool, she was familiar with it. If it was powerful enough to cut through rock, she decided, it could also make for a decent weapon.

After placing the plasma cutter back where she had found it, she grabbed the RIG again, went to the station in the corner, and put it on. There was a brief moment of discomfort as her back adjusted to the firmness of the suit, but as she closed the helmet and began checking the system, Saya began to feel more secure than she had since she had since waking up. She holstered the cutter to the belt on her hip and began calibrating the suit's internal communication system to match the frequency on the device she picked up.

"Hello?" she asked quickly, hoping that the sergeant was still there.

The other end was silent for a moment, then a burst of static, and the sergeant's voice again, "Saya? Is that you?"

"I've just got my RIG hooked up. I'm ready to go when you are, sir."

She could hear a sigh before he replied, "Oh, thank god. I was beginning to wonder if you had been…well, you know." He paused, "It doesn't matter now. You need to come find us. The evac shuttle's on its' way right now. If you give me a second, I can get a proper reading now."

Saya didn't say anything. Instead she nervously examined her plasma cutter until she heard her suit emit a high pitched beep.

"Did you figure out where I am?" The question sounded odd when she voiced it out loud, but the urgency of the situation was more important than her embarrassment.

"Yeah, I actually have a lock now, but it's interesting. I mean, there's good news and bad news."

"What do you mean?"

"The good is that you're not really that far away from us. The first reading must've been faulty. Which brings me to the bad news, actually. Wherever you are, you're at least half a mile below the surface of the ground." He paused, then continued, "But as far as I know, only the mine goes that deep, and you're in town, not there."

"What?" she exclaimed. He was right - the only facility on Polis IV that she knew was that far underground was the mine, and she knew for a fact she wasn't there.

"…your guess is as good as mine. How can you not remember going all the way down there?" His voice was tinted with suspicion and unease.

"I really don't. I…the last thing I recall was being in the mine with my team, sir," she tried to explain. "We were…I don't remember what we were doing." Up until now, Saya thought she had been keeping fairly calm, but her inability to recall anything about what had transpired to a certain point was frustrating her to the point of tears.

Where had she been? She took a deep breath and attempted to focus. Her eyebrows furrowed in intense concentration, but the lingering image of her crew in the dimly lit mine shaft was the only thing she could remember clearly.

The sergeant was silent for a moment, and then she could hear him sigh again before he answered, "I guess it really doesn't matter, does it? This whole day's been filled with shit I didn't think I'd ever see. From here, I can put our location as a waypoint on your RIG, but it'll be up to you to get here. Did you find a weapon?"

"I think so," she answered, her hand going to the tool on her belt, "I've had plenty of practice with my plasma cutter."

"Good, that's good, actually. I hope you don't have to use it, and if you've got any brains, you would too, but if you do run into one of those creatures, you can't just shoot it in the head and expect it to drop. You gotta get it in the limbs - shoot off their legs and arms."

"What? Why?"

"If you don't, they'll just keep coming at ya. It took us too long and too many good men and women to figure it out, but those creatures don't seem to feel pain. You have to make sure they can't move, and even then, it's just better to run the hell away then stay and fight."

"I'll try to keep that in mind," she said in what she hoped was a neutral voice. But the sergeant's words, along with the vision of the dead man, stirred the fear in her stomach even more.

"Okay, like I said, all you have to do now is follow the directions on your suit and get your ass over here. I'll wait as long as I can, but I'm not going to delay getting the others on the shuttle for any one person. So hurry. I have my com unit open if you need anything"

"I'll be there as soon as I can, sir," she stated firmly, repressing a nervous swallow.

"Just call me Cohen," he responded gruffly, "And good luck."

"See you soon," Saya said softly, but the signal of a lost connection interrupted her words. She looked at the door. Involuntarily, her eyes shifted to the bloodstain. Once she left this room, there was nothing ensuring her safety. But if she stayed in here, she would definitely get left behind. And judging from everything she had seen and heard so far, being stuck in the small town with whatever had caused all this apparent havoc would be worse than anything she could risk by leaving.

She took the plasma cutter from her belt and gripped it tightly in one hand. She stepped forward, and with the other, Saya pushed a button, unlocked, and opened the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Saya peered left and right throughout the open room. Even through the air filters in her helmet, she could smell the dead man. She glanced down at her suit quickly and reached out her hand, switching the kinesis module on with her other hand. Almost instantaneously, a flow of crackling energy shot from her outstretched palm, and the body came off ground, suspended in midair by the artificial gravity field.

As an engineer, the kinesis function was one of her most employed tools. She used it every day on the job, but never like this before. The body shifted when she moved her arm, and the head lolled back, exposing dull blue eyes and the vapid countenance it wore in death. The eyes, although empty of expression, seemed to stare past her visor and straight into her own gaze.

_Oh shit, not again._ Her stomach rolled – Saya twisted and pressed the eject button on her suit, and suddenly the corpse was gone, flying through the air.

The dull thump of its collision with the wall unnerved her, but when she wasn't confronted with the body anymore, she felt relief surge through her. _At least I know that the kinesis works now._

She stepped back out into the room, looking it over once more with her new knowledge. Aside from the body, there was no evidence of violence. The open room from earlier immediately came to mind, though. Whatever had attacked the colony, at least one had been down here at some point.

Her gaze was drawn to the air vent suddenly – how would she know if something was there? _For all I know, it could be up there right now, just waiting for me to turn around._ Staring into the vents, it took all of her self control to tear away.

_Be careful, not paranoid,_ she tried to remind herself. With a shake of her head, she turned away from the vent.

Regardless, Saya patted the reassuring weight of the plasma cutter on her belt before she moved on. Despite her worry, nothing happened as she crept slowly out of the room. If she had read the map correctly, once she stepped out of this door, the elevator was only at the end of the corridor. She was reaching out to touch the blue interface when she stopped suddenly.

The clank of metal, or so she thought, sounded behind her. For a moment, she was completely still as the possibilities raced through her mind. Instead of the door, she grabbed the handle of the plasma cutter.

_Don't be stupid. Leave now._ She knew it would be the wise thing to do, but a mixture of fear and morbid curiosity prompted her to turn around. As she whirled, she brought the plasma cutter up. She quickly scanned the room through the sight of the weapon, expecting something to leap from behind a table or chair. When nothing happened, though, she slowly and cautiously lowered the cutter and went back to the door.

_Just get to the elevator and take it from there._ This time, she quickly stepped out into the corridor. She strode purposefully down the hall, very ready to leave this place and its mysteries behind. Still, the thumping of her footsteps wasn't loud enough to squelch the sound of her heartbeats, and in-between those, her shallow breaths.

_Relax. It was probably stress,_ Saya tried to reassure herself. She had probably just imagined the sound – it was definitely possible, she knew. People often reacted oddly or negatively to high stress situations. She had seen many of her fellow mining engineers experience circumstances that, at best, had been uncomfortable and left them merely shaken. At its worst, though, mining was a dangerous career, and she had known several people who after being stuck in life-threatening situations, had simply just lost it. One of her closest friends, a man named Paul, had developed PTSD after being wounded and stuck for two days in a mining tunnel that had caved in. She remembered his wide, darting eyes and how, for the first week after his rescue, he just hadn't stopped shaking. _I can't end up like him. Not now,_ she thought. Resolve quickened her steps, and she went slightly faster towards the dim blue glow at the end of the hallway.

_See?_ _There's nothing to worry about._ She was almost at the elevator now. Saya had reached the door and was reaching out to press the summon button when she heard the sound again.

It was faint – a hushed clicking. She probably wouldn't have heard it at all if there had been literally any other noise besides the dull, ubiquitous hum of the ventilation system. But she knew it was real this time, Saya knew she wasn't going crazy.

A brief moment of clarity prompted her to push the button to summon the elevator (it would probably take some time to arrive at her point since she was so deep down) before she began counting to herself.

_One._ Saya drew back from the door and gripped the plasma cutter. Her heart seemed to be pounding in her ears, the steady rhythm was so loud.

_Two._ She glanced at the elevator, willing it to come faster than it seemed to be coming.

_Three!_ She turned, bringing the makeshift weapon up and looked down the length of it. She was ready to shoot whatever came into sight, but like before, she was only met with the sight of empty space.

_What the hell?_

There was nothing – tears began to sting at her eyes. Saya _knew_ she had heard something. She refused to believe she was going crazy. Behind her the elevator chimed, and a quick glance revealed that it was a quarter of the way down.

Lowering the plasma cutter, she leaned against the wall and waited. She pressed the button to lower her helmet and took a deep breath. _Just relax. All you're doing now is making it worse for yourself._

_It's probably the silence. I'm probably just overthinking the station's usual noises._ No matter how hard Saya tried to believe the words, though, she just felt as if something were wrong. Keeping the weapon in her hands, she glanced again at the elevator – it was almost at the floor. She inhaled deeply and steeled herself. If the sergeant was right, then once she got to the surface she would definitely be in danger, she knew. She couldn't go up there panicked, though. If there was a more certain way to get killed, she couldn't think of one now.

The elevator beeped, and the doors opened. Saya was going to step in, relieved that she was finally going to get somewhere, but the pink, fleshy creature inside snarled and leapt out, it's arms thrown out in a slash maneuver aimed directly at her.


	3. Chapter 3

"When is the shuttle going to get here?"

"Why aren't there more of you here to protect us?"

"Please, my partner's missing, and I know she's alive…If we could just go look, I know we could find her."

"It's _your_ job to defend us, so what the hell happened?"

Sergeant Neil Cohen was surrounded by an angry, demanding, and most of all, terrified crowd. As he shifted the plasma rifle slung around his shoulder uncomfortably, his grey eyes scanned the crowed.

"No one can leave right now," he began, trying to raise his voice above the others, "The only thing we can do right now is stay -"

"What? Stay calm? Yeah, looking how fucking well that turned out," a short, stocky man in a crumpled suit interrupted.

"Yes, stay calm and wait for help," Cohen finished. He raised his voice, trying not to concede his position, but judging from the way they pressed in even further, the crowd seemed unfazed.

"Yeah, well…" The man continued with his list of grievances. The crowd seemed to quickly follow suit, and Cohen stepped back unintentionally – their demands were taking a toll on him. The emerging migraine was a testament to that, and for a moment he was tempted just to leave them where they were until he reminded himself that it wasn't their fault.

_At least, not for the most part._

He took a quick glance outside the window, wondering when the transport shuttles would arrive. Just like he expected, though, all he saw was the raging snowstorm, typical Polis IV weather. A mining colony on a frigid, perpetually snowing world, life here was often difficult: supply ships had trouble navigating to the planet's surface, the only way anyone could go outside was with specialized thermal clothing or in a vehicle, and due to the constant blizzards' tendency to knock out parts of the colony's power system, is was often cold inside as well. However uncomfortable life could be, though, Cohen knew that each and every one of the people in the room longed for the return of their old routines. And judging from their shouting, he guessed their way of coping was to get angry. Very angry.

"Just please sit down and –"

"Sir," a short, dark-skinned woman wielding a plasma cutter interrupted him, "The cameras show another group of them approaching." Unlike the man in the suit, this person's distraction would've been a relief had it not been for the specific news she had brought. As the crowd immediately silenced, Cohen guessed that they also knew what she was referring to.

There was only one group she could have meant by "them" – she was talking about the creatures that had wrought havoc on Polis IV. Dubbed "necromorphs" by one of the surviving scientists, they emerged from corpses, and usually with new, fatal upgrades. Their sudden appearance in the colony was unexplained, but the fact was that who they didn't kill, they isolated from the rest. It was the reason Cohen had established the safe zone – it was clear that staying in groups was everyone's best chance at survival. Still, the woman's news was troubling.

_They're regrouping quicker each time._ The grim thought crossed Cohen's mind, and from the woman's distorted expression, he knew she also realized it. _Her name is Keira_, he suddenly thought. He had encountered her during his own escape. Being only a private, she had quickly adjusted herself to his leadership. Even if she was the only other officer he had seen, she had provided immeasurable help.

He glanced back to the people anxiously, and for once, they were silent as they stared back. The tension in the air was palpable, but for now, Cohen knew that they would obey anything he ordered.

"Okay, Private," he began, turning towards Keira, "Go make sure the barricades are still holdin' up."

"What about the turrets, sir?"

He pondered that for a moment – the automated defense system would be of great use. The sensor-guided turrets would cover their backs, in addition to having greater firepower than the small arms they possessed. In fact, they were just generally more efficient than any human could be. However, during the initial stages of the outbreak, someone had used them rather extensively, and as a result, Cohen estimated they only had enough ammo for one more attack, and he wanted it to count.

"Leave them for now."

A look of concern quickly washed over Keira's face, but she nodded regardless and jogged away to fulfill her duties.

"The rest of you head back to the saferoom," he said slowly as he regarded the rest of the group, "Don't forget to lock the door." He didn't have to say what might happen if they failed to remember.

They were still for a moment before they backed away from him and began to head in the direction of the saferoom, which was basically a lockable storage room they had repurposed just for this. Cohen had his doubts about exactly how well it would stand up against direct attack, but the plan was to not let the necromorphs get close enough to find out.

_And besides, it keeps them out of the way,_ he thought with a small touch of amusement and a large swelling of relief. With the people gone now, he renewed his grip on the plasma rifle and was about to follow Keira when his communication device erupted with static. He stopped dead in his tracks; one hand went to rest anxiously on his gun while the other reached to the on-ear device.

"This is Cohen," he answered quickly, trying to sound in control. Playing the role of the boss was easier without direct contact, he had found out.

"Sergeant?" It was the woman from earlier, the one who had escaped from some sort of hospital.

"Saya? What happened? You weren't answering your comm," he said, not bothering to hide the relief in his voice. After their last conversation, he had tried to reach her, but she hadn't replied. Although it had upset him, she wouldn't have been the first to be lost.

"I…I was attacked. I managed to kill it, but it knocked out some of the suit's functions." Her tone was slightly hushed, as if she were trying not to be heard.

"That's okay. I just thought…well, nevermind," he said, allowing himself a sigh. "Where are you now? Are you injured?"

"I'm okay, but I had to hide in a room to repair my suit, and then I heard one of those things outside, and I don't know if it's still there." The whole statement was one breath, and for the first time, Cohen sensed her fear. He didn't blame her, though – it was nerve-wracking just knowing they were out there, let alone being isolated and separated from certain death by just one wall.

"Listen, just…" He tried to think about what to tell her. "Just stay there for right now. I'm about to be real busy real quickly, and I won't be able to direct you. Repair your suit's tracking system, 'kay? Oh, and block the air vents if you can."

Saya was silent for a moment. "Okay," she answered hesitantly, "I'll be in touch."

She clicked out, and Cohen couldn't help sighing again. He knew that, at least for the moment, she was placing all her trust with him. If he let her down now…well, he didn't even want to think about it. There had been others like her – of the couple dozen sole, isolated people who had made radio contact with him, only six had made it to the safehouse. Their voices still lingered in his mind: some were hopeful while others were panicked to the point of hysteria.

He did his best to try and put them out of his mind as he began to head towards the barricade. There wasn't any time to reminisce now, and he was about to open the door and make his way into the hall when his communications device beeped again.

"Saya?" His heart began to beat faster as he waited for her answer. It was all too easy to imagine her steady voice panicked and shrill.

"Sergeant Neil Cohen?" It wasn't Saya – the voice belonged to a man.

"Yeah, this is he, but I don't exactly got the time –"

"This is Major Benson from P-Sec. Your shuttle will be there in approximately ten minutes." The man's voice was firm as he interrupted Cohen. "I suggest you gather any survivors and meet us at the landing zone right outside of your position."

"M-major, they're coming right now, we need to postpone the evacuation," he said breathlessly.

"That's not possible."

"Look, there's not enough officers to deal with the creatures _and_ help evacuate, it's - "

"Listen, solider. There is only going to be one shuttle. We had to fight to allow even this one to come down – the executives have declared this colony lost."

"I…okay, major," Cohen answered. Even as he spoke, he could hear Keira firing her weapon, and his stomach clenched – he needed to be in there with her, not arguing.

"It'll be there in ten minutes. Make sure everyone's ready – there won't be another chance like this." With that, the major clicked off. Without hesitation, Cohen shut off his own communications device before he brought the plasma rifle to his chest and made sure it was loaded. He knew he had to get the people out of there, and he had a plan – if he could switch the automated turrets on, he just might be able to get everyone out of there. He took a deep breath and opened the door, ready to fight.


	4. Chapter 4

Saya clicked her comm device off and sighed. She usually didn't like being at the mercy of anyone's help, but this was one time she definitely wouldn't have minded. There was no use in sitting around and waiting for aid that wasn't going to come, though. She looked down at the rapture in her suit. Even though the creature from the elevator had managed to damage at least a couple of her suit's non-vital systems in its ambush, she still considered herself lucky to have escaped with that much. Without the sergeant's strategic advice, she would have likely died in the encounter; she knew that much for sure.

Upon closer inspection, she noticed that some of the wiring had been cut in the attack. It wasn't a hard or timely repair by any means, but she would have to be careful to get it right the first time. She didn't want to linger here any longer than necessary. Saya removed a couple of small tools from her suit's inventory, and carefully but deftly began repairing the wire. She was just about to finish when she heard a small thump.

_What the hell?_ She froze in mid-motion, unsure of what to do. Her mind flashed with images of the creatures, of their pale flesh and their claws and their oddly human faces. She shuddered and listened even closer. After a moment, she realized it was only the air conditioning system.

_I need to get out of here before I lose it_, she thought, shaking her head before resuming her work on the wiring. As she wound them together with a sliver of electrical tape, she looked at the door. She hadn't encountered anything since the creature on the elevator, but she still felt safer here, where she had her back to the wall and could see the danger approaching. Her stomach began to knot up again, and not even the solid steel of the plasma cutter could reassure her when she grabbed the weapon, opened it, and checked it's ammo for what must have been the hundredth time. But there was no time for delaying. The sooner she could get to Cohen, the better. However, just running around wasn't going to get her anywhere, and Saya took a moment to consult the map interface. When she decided she was ready, she took a deep breath, stood up, and stepped out.

The very first thing she did was to look, weapon at the ready, down both sides of the hall. However, her cursory glances revealed nothing. Except for the scuffling of her boots and the hum of the air system, it was also quiet as could be. Instead of being comforted, though, the silence only unnerved her further.

Saya began down the corridor, making sure that she looked behind every couple of seconds. At the very least, she didn't want to be taken unaware, even if there was little she could do to stop them. She was about to turn the corner and proceed when she heard another noise behind her – and this time, she was reasonably certain that this time, it wasn't the air conditioning.

_Not again!_ She froze for a moment – right now, she could either investigate it and have certainty on her side, or she could just get the hell out of here. Both options sounded appealing enough, but after a moment, she went for a compromise and knelt down on the other side of the corner, hiding herself just in case it _was_ something. She would wait it out for just a little bit, enough to be sure she wasn't being pursued, but as she kept still, she could feel even this little action taking a toll on her nerves. The milliseconds between her heartbeats felt like hours.

_If something was going to come out, it would have by now, right?_ The question lingered in her mind, but she relaxed her grip and began to stand up until something stopped her dead in her tracks. It was another sound, but not as subtle as the last one – the long, screeching wail pierced the air, and she immediately dropped back to the ground, praying to whatever higher power existed that she hadn't been caught.

She could hear metal crashing against the floor, accompanied by a vaguer, muffled thump. Saya's mind screamed at her legs to run, but the muscles seemed locked in place.

_You can't just stay here!_ The only rational thought stood out amongst the others, but it was hard to dismiss the "fight or flight" responses generated by her brain. She knew running was the best option, but she had to least see what she was dealing with.

So, disregarding the seemingly logical urge to just run, she peeked around the corner.

It was at the opposite end of the hallway, something Saya noted with a swell of relief. The other thing that immediately struck her was that although it was similar to the creature from the elevator, it was…different, somehow. It shared the same bi-pedal form with the blade-arms, but it was black instead of flesh colored, and even as she tried to focus on it, she couldn't. It was blurry, like it was moving, but that couldn't be right, could it?

If it was truly like the other, Saya thought, then she could _probably_ fight it off if she had to. Not that she wanted to find out, though. Dropping back into a crouch, she turned towards the door and began to creep toward it, minimizing her movements and noise level.

She had almost gotten there when her comm unit rang out again. The static of the unit broke the silence, followed by an urgent call of "Saya!"

_Shit!_ Without even looking back, she began to run for the door. There was no way it _couldn't_ have heard that. _Why didn't I fucking think of that?_ Behind her, she began to hear the creature's footsteps in addition to her own.

When she reached the door, she threw out her hands to brush against the lock interface, slowing only so she wouldn't run into the door itself before she continued into the room. It was dimly lit and she was sprinting, but she could make out the many toppled chairs scattered around. Could she use one of them to slow the thing down?

The rapid footsteps entering the room shortly behind her answered the question for her – right now, the only option was running. If she stopped, a confrontation would be forced. Saya went for the door, opening and hurrying through that one as well. However, something at the far end of the corridor made her stomach drop in dread – the red light of a lock.

_Of all the times!_ In normal circumstances, she would have no problem hacking the door, but normal circumstances generally didn't involve murderous creatures at her heels.

Immediately, she turned and closed the door behind her, making sure to lock it so that the creature didn't inadvertently trigger the opening mechanism. Less than a few seconds later, she heard thumps coming from the other side, presumably as it rammed itself against the door.

_Okay_, she told herself as she jogged towards her original destination,_ no screw-ups now. It can't reach – oh, dammit!_

An air vent in the corridor caught her attention as she went past it. Not a second after, the thumps on the door stopped. Saya had figured it was more than intelligent enough to find a way in, but she preferred it when said way wasn't staring her right in the face and being a reminder of the consequences of failure and all.

Upon reaching the door, she wasted no time in holstering her weapon, ripping out the panel, and beginning the process of disconnecting and fusing together key wires.

She had just snipped a blue security wire when she heard a vague, echoing cry behind her. _Shit! _It would've been easy to give up on her work, but she forced herself to concentrate on the lock. She wasn't so sure she could take it on now, and right now, the door was her only her only alternative.

_Only a couple more seconds!_ Then there was a metallic crash behind her, very similar to the one that had alerted her to its presence earlier. Saya withdrew from the panel and grabbed the plasma cutter from her belt. She turned around in time to see the dark creature emerge from the air vent, and this time, she was close enough to see why it was hard to focus on it. The creature itself was vibrating quickly, its twitchy movement a result of its state.

_Okay, Saya, it's just like what you did earlier. Snip the right places._ She aimed at its arms and pressed the trigger, but to no avail, as it was immediately clear that the shot only grazed it. Whether it was from the creature's intense shaking or her own, she couldn't tell, but as it began to charge in her direction, that question was rendered irrelevant.

She fired again, forcing herself to stand still and be as steady as was possible. This time, she hit it in the chest, and it recoiled, but she still hadn't inflicted any real damage.

_I don't want to die!_ Saya took the opportunity to shoot again, but it only staggered again. Exactly like before. She quickly realized that this creature was different than the other – her weapon hadn't been _this _ineffective against the one from the elevator.

Then she had an idea. Quickly reaching out her palm, she activated the telekinesis. If it worked on regular objects, maybe it would work on the creature itself. Saya had never actually tried it on something living, but it was worth a try.

The beam hit the thing square in the chest as it resumed its charge. It stopped – but only for a moment. Her hopes were dashed as it merely shrugged it off as easily as it did the plasma cutter.

_Quick, something else!_ She had one tool left, and given the lack of effect the others had, Saya wasn't sure it would work. But it was better than nothing, and again, she directed her palm towards the creature. Instead of the telekinesis, though, she activated the stasis module.

It was hardly a couple of meters from her now, a distance it would have closed had it not been for the bright blue aura surrounding it and slowing it down immensely.

_It worked?_ Saya was momentarily stunned – at least, until she remembered that the effect only lasted a couple of seconds. Wasting no time, she raised her gun again. The glow of its yellow eyes gave her pause. But not enough to stop her raising the gun and dismembering it limb-by-limb. Even when it collapsed, pieces of it strewn around on the floor, her heart didn't slow down. It was a neat trick, and she would have to remember it for sure, but she couldn't overuse it lest the stasis module be depleted of energy. Finally, she turned back to the door, and was about to resume it when she remembered that it was the sergeant's alarmed call that had prompted this incident in the first place. Only pausing in her work to turn the comm unit on, she quickly resumed her work on the lock.

"Sergeant? What's wrong?"

No one answered. She stopped in her work, her imagination taking over once again. What if something had happened to the sergeant and she was alone again?

"Sergeant? Sergeant Cohen?"

The silence was nerve-wracking, and she swallowed.

Then there was static, and she heard gunshots before the man spoke. "Saya? Is that you? Where the hell were you?"

"I'm on my way. I had to deal with one of those things." She knew she sounded calm, but her stomach began to knot again as her gaze went to the mess on the floor almost unconsciously.

"Well, we're dealing with a shitload of 'em here! But…that's not important right now." He paused, and she could hear what she presumed to be him shooting. "You need to get here now! There's a rescue coming in five minutes, and they're not waiting for anything!"

Only five minutes? Conflicting thoughts ran through her head. She could very well be out of his hell in five minutes, but could she get there in time?

"I…I'll be there," she said, glancing at her map. It was risky, but she could make it with no delays.

"You still got the coordinates?" He was yelling now. Or maybe he had always been yelling. Saya couldn't remember.

"Yeah!"

"Then get the hell over here! I'll wait, but they're gonna leave as soon as they get here. They're not playing around!"

"I'll be there!"

"I'll…see you," he said, and clicked off. Saya wanted to stop and rest after what just happened, but there was no choice now. She only stopped long enough to disconnect before she resumed her work, which she almost instantaneously completed. As she gripped her plasma cutter and went through, she knew this was her last chance.

_And there's no way in hell I'm missing it._


	5. Chapter 5

_**Thanks for reading, guys! Sorry for the long wait between the chapters, but school and finals really messed me up for a while. Now that I'm back on track, I'm going to try and post a chapter every week! Feedback is always appreciated, and I hope you guys enjoy the rest of the story!**_

Sergeant Cohen gasped as he ducked back behind the makeshift barricade. So far, he and Keira had managed to hold off the waves of necromorphs, but they were both tired and beginning to run low on ammo. Cohen checked the time – he had set his watch to count down from ten minutes after the last radio conversation. Three minutes left. That meant barely seven minutes had passed. In any other situation, the time would've passed without notice, but in the heat and intensity of combat, every minute seemed like an hour.

"Sergeant! I need to reload!" Keira's voice broke through his thoughts, and he nodded. He quickly shoved a new clip in his plasma rifle and stood back up. The private, meanwhile, took cover behind her own pile of crates and debris on the other side of the hallway. Aiming down the iron-sights, he shot the leg off one of the tall ones, which collapsed to the ground. It hissed in inhuman anger (he didn't think they could feel pain) and continued to struggle forward until Cohen turned its head into a bloody pulp. As gruesome as the sight was, he knew he couldn't linger, and he quickly scanned the narrow hallway. One of the creatures with a tail and no legs was rapidly approaching, but a quick, precise shot from Keira cut off its tail. It fell to the ground, dead, and Cohen glanced over to shoot the private an appreciative nod.

He knew that they needed to get out of there soon, as the rescue would be here very shortly, but if he didn't time this to the exact second, none of them would live to see it. He continued to shoot at the seemingly endless pack of necromorphs until another minute had passed – then he looked over at Keira briefly.

"It's time!" He had to shout to make himself heard above the gunfire, but when she gave him a thumbs-up, he knew she understood the message. As Cohen stepped into the middle space between the two barricades, he laid down a barrage of fire. The unfocused attack didn't kill as many as he liked, but the creatures weren't stupid, and they scattered. Keira, meanwhile, had moved to the space immediately behind them where they had set the turret.

"Sir, it's ready!"

Without saying a word, Cohen quickly retreated, firing all the while, backwards of his position. He didn't want to be in front of the sensor-guided gun when it started firing.

As he passed Keira, he gave her an affirmative signal, and she flipped one of the switches on the machine. The turret immediately began to fire, its automatic machine gun downing several of the necromorphs in one sweep.

"Let's get out of here!"

"Yes, sir!" They both walked backwards, weapons still raised. They stopped just outside of the door leading to the corridor, where he paused briefly to lock it. Nothing human would be passing through there, not anymore.

"Private, you need to get the civilians! Lead them to the landing zone." His tone was calm but firm.

Keira blinked at him in surprise. "Where are you going?"

"I'll cover you. Do it _now_!"

She hesitated for a moment more, obviously unhappy to leave him behind, but she did jog in the direction of the safe room. Cohen swallowed as he backed up from the door. He hadn't lied to Keira, not entirely. It really wasn't a great decision for both of them to go. Someone had to stay behind until the very last minute, just in case. Still, something else held him back - the conversation he had had with Saya. If there was any chance she was alive and was going to escape, he wanted to make sure she could take it. And if the unfortunate happened and she wasn't able to, it damn well wasn't going to be because of him.

He took a moment to reload his gun again – _There's no reason to not be prepared_. Then he began to patrol the doors, checking his watch every ten seconds or so. When the clock marked that there was less than a minute left, he heard the shouts of the survivors. Then the clock marked forty seconds, he heard their panic turn to relief and joy as, presumably, the rescue shuttle arrived. Meanwhile, he could also make out the muffled shots of the turret. By all means, it seemed as if everything was going to work out.

At thirty seconds, Keira ran up behind him.

"Sir, we have to go!"

Cohen hesitated, his eyes scanning the doors. Saya wasn't here yet. What if she came just as they were lifting off?

Twenty seconds.

"Sir!"

He swallowed. There was no choice now. He had given it everything – just as he had done for all of the others. Reluctance and guilt still made his stomach clench as he turned and began to run with Keira towards the shuttle. Even through the raging blizzard, he could see the vague shape of the shuttle and the last of the survivors climbing inside. They had almost reached the door to go outside when he heard gunshots behind him.

These were distinct, and not muffled like the turret, which he couldn't hear at this distance even if he wanted to. That meant it had to be someone. He whirled around, scanning the large lobby for any sign of that person.

"Sir!" Keira's voice was desperate, and he felt a chill as she held the door open.

"I have to check this out! We can't leave anyone behind! See if you can hold it for a minute or two longer!" He yelled out the last sentence even as he ran towards the gunshots, which were coming from the far side of the lobby. At this point, the only thing he could hope for was that the pilot would agree.

He didn't have to go far, though – one of the doors opened, and Cohen saw a woman emerge. She was in one of those engineer's suits, and she was sprinting. In her hand she carried a plasma cutter.

"Hurry! Over here!"

She looked over and began to race in his direction.

"That's good, just a little more!"

He was about to take off when he heard a deep, loud bellow coming from the direction she had come from. Cohen knew that there was no time, but it was instinctive, the way he had to see what it was.

Not that he didn't regret it when he caught a glimpse of what had come through the door. It was definitely one of the necromorphs, but he hadn't seen one like this before. It was tall and thin, and humanoid in a way that the others weren't. It was silent as it approached, and he felt terror begin to overwhelm him. A gunshot interrupted his fright, and as he shot a look to see where it had come from, he only saw the engineer woman, her own weapon raised.

"Come on!" She grabbed his arm and began to pull him towards the door. He blinked and snapped out of it – _This is __**not**__ the time to freeze up! _Cohen pulled his wrist away and was dashing alongside her when they heard another sound.

This time, it was a thunderous pounding. As he reached the door, he realized in horror that the turret had also gone silent. The room didn't remain silent for long, though, as Cohen saw the large beast producing the noises ran through the door and into the lobby. In the back of his mind, he noted it moved almost like a gorilla. If he didn't move now, though, he would soon be taking _much_ too close of a look at its large forearms.

"Sergeant! Hurry!" This time, the voice was Keira's, waving from the open door of the shuttle. At this point, it was no longer grounded; instead, it was hovering in anticipation.

He and Saya sprinted towards the ship, and they were almost there when he heard glass shatter behind them. The accompanying footsteps indicated it was the big creature, and Cohen was reaching out for the shuttle's ladder when it abruptly pulled away.

_What the fuck?_ He turned around, only to see the large creature. It was but a meter or two away, and as it raised a forearm, Cohen found himself stunned in terror, the rifle hanging uselessly at his side.

"No!" The shout came from the engineer, and a shot from her hit the necromorph in the shoulder. The plasma cutter wouldn't take this down by any means, but it must have had some effect, because it did stagger back slightly.

Cohen blinked and shook himself out of whatever he had fallen into. At this point, though, he was persevering half through instinct, and the will to survive suddenly surged through his veins. He quickly raised his own gun, back-pedaling as he filled the large necromorph's head with shots from the plasma rifle. It still didn't seem like enough, but it retreated further, and he turned to the woman quickly.

"We need to go!"

The shuttle was now hovering at the edge of the landing zone, and they began to run towards it.

"We're almost there!" His tone was one of desperate relief. It was so close.

Something slammed into Cohen's stomach and knocked him backwards. He fell back, struggling to regain his breath as got back up.

"Help me!" The engineer began to cry out again, but she abruptly stopped. Cohen quickly stood, raising his gun when he saw what had silenced her. A long tentacle, from the tall creature that had been following her, was wrapped around her neck and, despite her resistance, was slowly pulling her closer to its gaunt body.

He was aiming for its arm when he heard another scream.

"Sergeant!" He glanced over quickly. The shuttle had come back, albeit higher in the air. Keira was crouched near the open door, one arm gripping a rail for support and the other grasping one end of a rope ladder.

"Hurry!" The private's face was strained, her tone distressed.

Time seemed to slow down for Cohen. The ladder was within reach – if he grabbed it now, he would be safe. After all he had been through, didn't he deserve that?

"Just…hold on!" He hoped that they wouldn't move, but either way, he had made his decision. Spinning around, he readjusted his grip on the plasma rifle and took aim at the creature again. Because of its stillness, he was able to find its weak point easily.

_Take this, you bastard._

Cohen pulled the trigger. It stumbled back, jerking the woman, but it _was_ off-balance. He emptied the rest of the clip before he slung the rifle over his back and sprinted to help her. By the time he had reached her, his pocketknife was in his hands – despite all of the technology available, he had always been a firm believer in having at least one ready. Reaching out, he grabbed the tentacle. The creature began trying to pull itself back, but it was still staggered, and Cohen began sawing. Blood sprayed out of the wound, but he ignored it. Within a second, he had severed the appendage completely. He heard the creature bellow again, but his attention was now on the engineer.

She had taken the opportunity to remove the tentacle from her throat, but she was still on the ground, coughing.

"Come on!" Cohen holstered his knife, grabbed her hand, and jerked her to her feet. There would be plenty of time to catch her breath after they were safe. As he steadied her with an arm around her shoulder, he saw the shuttle still remained.

"We're almost safe, I promise," he said, his own tone breathless with hope and exhaustion.

They were almost to the ladder when the big necromorph charged again. Cohen heard it coming, but there wasn't anything he could do at this point. The woman was still recovering, and if he didn't steady her, she wouldn't make it.

_Almost there almost there almost there_.

And then it was right behind the two of them. He shoved her in the other direction and barely had enough time to duck under the creature's brutal swipe.

He reached for the pistol holstered on his belt as he rolled further from the creature. Before it could swing again, he brought the weapon up and fired right into its face, screaming in rage and frustration.

He might as well have been using a pea shooter for all the effect it had. It roared and was about to swing again when it recoiled. Cohen heard the distinct sound of gunfire as well, coming from somewhere above him. In shock, he glanced up at the shuttle, where Keira was perched on the edge of the doorway with her own weapon.

She obviously wanted to distract it long enough for Cohen and the engineer to escape, but her plan worked_ too_ well. Instead of going after the sergeant again, it lunged for its perceived enemy, the shuttle. Its attack missed the craft itself, but it did catch the safety ladder at the end of its attack.

He saw the shuttle jerk briefly before the rope ladder snapped and fell to the ground.

_Shit!_

Cohen reloaded the pistol and began attacking the large necromorph again, but it was useless. In the corner of his eye, he noticed Keira being pulled into the doorway as it was closed, but all of his focus was on attacking the creature.

And then the ship began to ascend. The necromorph made a feeble attempt at a jump in order to catch it, but the shuttle was already out of reach. It roared and followed it for about a dozen meters, covering the distance in the blink of an eye, but it was already too late.

Too late for them both.

Cohen glanced at the pistol in his hands, and then at the gaunt creature, which had already begun to recover. It didn't matter what he did now. The rescue had shuttle had left. There was no way out.

"Let's go!" It was the woman's voice, and he felt her grab his wrist. She was pulling him with her, and within a couple of steps, they were dashing towards the facility again. He wasn't quite sure why, but he let himself be led anyway.

She let go of his wrist without warning, stumbled, and coughed. He blinked as he stopped as well, pausing to grab her out of reflex. This…this couldn't be the end. He had imagined his own demise in many ways since this ordeal had started, but not once had he thought he would die running. Regardless, he continued, and they were had just gotten inside when the idea struck him.

"Follow me!"

They could both hear the brutish necromorph approaching again, and she looked at him, skepticism and fear lining her face.

"I…I've got a plan!"

He began to sprint to the safe room. Wordlessly, she followed, shooting backwards glances every other second.

They stopped at the entrance.

"What are you doing? There's no way this'll hold!" She finally spoke up.

"There's something here that can stop them, I think," he replied, stepping into the room and beginning to search through the crates.

"Well, you better hurry with that."

A moment or two later, Cohen emerged with his find: a large, one-use rocket launcher. As he holstered it over his shoulder and walked out, the woman stared at him, slightly wide-eyed.

"Why didn't we use that earlier?" Her tone was demanding, but at this point, Cohen didn't really care.

"It was a last resort," he said distractedly as he began to look for something else.

"I hope it works," she said nervously, looking at her plasma cutter nervously as she spoke.

"So do I." He found what he was looking for, kneeled down in anticipation, and brought up the rocket launcher in an aiming position.

"There's the slow one," she remarked after a moment. Cohen saw it as well – it was slow, but it moved with purpose. It knew it had them cornered.

"We're waiting for the other."

They didn't have to wait but less than a minute as the vibrations signaled the large creature's arrival. The tall one had stopped, apparently waiting for the other.

And then it filled the doorway, its angry roar piercing the air.

He fired. He thought he heard her scream something, but all his attention was on the missile as it soared to the right of both the necromorphs and hit a pillar.

Polis IV's architecture was styled practically. No space was wasted, and there were few, if any, extravagances in the structure. The lobby was different, however. As the entrance to the commercial area, it was designed to appeal to visitors, and one of those visually appealing elements was the inclusion of several towering pillars. They were deemed safe, but then again, none of the structural tests had included direct hits from missiles, or at least that was what Cohen was counting on.

After the loud explosion, it suddenly went quiet. The necromorphs had hesitated at the display of power, but began to approach as nothing else happened.

The woman raised her weapon, but didn't object. She had figured it out.

The tall one began to bellow, but ceased when its cry was dwarfed by something even deeper and more menacing. As the ceiling began to crumble down, Cohen couldn't help but smile and drop his weapon. The creatures tried to retreat, but were quickly smothered by debris. Dust filled the rapidly-cooling air, blocking his vision, but he knew they couldn't have survived that.

And then he heard a rumbling above him, and both of them looked up. The ceiling was cracked.

_Oh fuck._

"Let's go!" Her scream was loud, but not nearly as loud as the reverberations of the structure collapsing. They both began to spring towards the door that would lead them further into the safety of the commercial district.

"Hurry!" This time, it was him screaming. He could see the opening seemingly growing larger as they approached.

Cohen almost didn't feel the slab that crashed onto his head and sent him straight to the ground. The only thing he could make out before he blacked out was the engineer disappearing into the doorway.

_Please don't leave me._


	6. Chapter 6

Neil Cohen felt a prodding in his side, and he curled up in a ball on the floor. He _really_ didn't want to wake up. But considering his dreams, maybe it wasn't a bad thing. He felt the sensation in his side again and groaned slightly.

"Quit it, Jax. I'll be up in a minute…"

He reached up to run at his eyes when he felt the rough texture of the gauze bandage along his forehead. And then it all came back to him – it wasn't a dream. He remembered hopelessly battling the creatures on his way to the rescue shuttle. He remembered collapsing the roof on the two necromorphs pursuing him and the engineer woman. But he didn't remember how he had gotten here. For that matter, where _was_ here?

Cohen sat up to get a better view of his surroundings, but stopped when an unexpected wave of nausea hit him. He reached out for something to balance himself with; his hands only grasped at air. He yelped slightly and was about to fall back down when a hand gripped his wrist and held him up.

Finally, he was able to get a good look at his savior. It was the woman, the one he had gone back for. The only thing he had been able to make out then was her engineer's suit – now, he was able to make a quick study of her features. She was vaguely Asian (Japanese maybe?), with dark eyes and short black hair that was gathered into a meager-looking pony-tail.

"Thanks," he mumbled. Gently, she put her other hand on his waist. He flinched a little at her touch, but let her guide him into a sitting position regardless. As he leaned his head against the wall, he sighed.

"How long was I sleepin'?"

"Twelve and a half hours." She sat down directly across from him, crossing her legs in an Indian position.

"Ugh, really?"

"Well, nothing's really happened, and you slept even _after_ the medicine wore off, so I figured you must have been exhausted."

"'kay." He shifted a little as he looked around. "Where are we?"

"The security room." She must have noticed his look of apprehension, because she quickly added, "Don't worry, everything's been sealed off."

"How'd we get here?"

"_I _dragged you here after you got knocked unconscious, Sergeant."

He blinked. "How'd ya know _that_?"

"Know what?"

"Who I am!"

"Oh. I recognized your voice." She hesitated. "And I looked through your things while you were out."

Cohen figured he couldn't fault her for that. He probably would've done the exact same thing. _But wait…_She said she had recognized his voice. Now that she mentioned that, she _did_ sound familiar.

"Saya!" He exclaimed loudly, looking at her.

"…That is my name, yes."

"You're the woman from the radio! You _did _make it!" He was unable to stop himself from cracking a grin, even though he felt positively abysmal.

"I never did get the chance to thank you, Sergeant."

"It's alright," he said, reaching up to examine the bandages on his head, "But please don't call me 'Sergeant.' My name is Neil. Neil Cohen." He tried to smile at her again, but gave up when she didn't react. "And you don't have to thank me…I don't think anyone would want to be out there alone." When he touched the side of his head too firmly, it hurt. With a wince, he let his hand fall back into his lap.

She was silent for a moment, and then reached for the bag at her side. "I don't know how you feel, so I found some pills for migraines, nausea, and dizziness."

"I'll take some of the ones for my stomach, and maybe a couple for my head. It really hurts."

Wordlessly, Saya examined the small pile of bottles. She selected two bottles, read the labels, and poured the appropriate dosage in her hand.

"Here," she said, passing them over to him after a moment's deliberation.

He took them and looked at her expectantly, only to find she was giving him a very similar look.

"Is there any water?" he asked awkwardly.

"Oh. Yes, hold on."

He waited, suppressing a shiver. She had stripped him to his boxers and a new, clean white t-shirt, and although the blankets she covered him with had been warm when he was sleeping, he wasn't in them anymore.

Saya came back with a bottle of water and handed it to him as she crouched at his side. Cohen reached to swallow the pills, and was about to down it with the water when she spoke again.

"So who's Jax?"

Despite the water, he started and the pills caught in his throat. His eyes teared up in pain and he quickly took another swallow.

"He's, uh, just a friend," he said after he recovered. "Someone from my squad before…before everything went to hell."

She merely raised an eyebrow in response, but whether it was at his words or his choking he couldn't quite decipher. He felt his cheeks redden, and at a loss of what to say, just told her the first thing to come to mind.

"There were others, too. Shirley, Bill, and Josef. We were a decent team, as far as this colony was concerned. We stopped a robbery once."

Saya remained mute, and it was hard to stop himself from continuing.

"When this all started, we _tried_ to stick together, but the outbreak caught everyone unaware. We were spread too thin and…and I don't know, we just never found each other." His already upset stomach twisted even more at the possibilities of his friends' fates. "Wherever they are, I hope they're safe. So how'd I get knocked out?" He added the last question when he realized he was beginning to ramble. And he _did_ legitimately want to know.

"Part of the ceiling you blew up fell on your head." Saya had apparently lost her immediate interest in him. She stood and walked back to the small pile of electronics she had set up near him.

"Oh, okay." He paused, furrowing his eyebrows at the floor in thought. "Where are we again?"

"The security r-"

"No, I mean, which one?"

"The safe house in the security office in the commercial district." She stopped, and after a moment, added, "I couldn't bring you _that_ far by myself."

"Okay. Have ya heard from anyone else?" Now that he had taken the medicine, Cohen felt a little better. Or he thought he did, anyways.

"No. I've been working on our comm devices to see if I can improve the range, but…" Saya didn't finish the sentence, instead sighing in frustration.

"All this time? Did you get any sleep yourself?"

"Yeah, I had a small nap once everything was secure. I wasn't quite as tired as you, though. Like I said, you slept even after the medicine was supposed to have worn off."

Cohen paused. His memories were still a little muddled right now, but he did remember that ever since the initial outbreak had occurred, there hadn't been much time for anything, much less rest.

"You're right. I think sleep was the last thing on anyone's mind. I mean, it just happened so fast. No one saw it coming."

She made a small "hmm" sound and continued to do whatever it is she was doing. He didn't bother asking her to explain – he had always been fairly useless with electronics and machinery.

"What about you? I…I remember guiding you out of some med center." Cohen shifted, testing to see if the medication had kicked in yet. "What were you doing there?"

"I'll let you know when I figure that out myself." Her tone was slightly bitter.

"You mean you still don't know anything?"

"No."

He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. She wasn't going to tell him anything, at least not right now.

"Is there any food?"

"Can you handle it?"

"I think so."

Saya turned to study him before looking down and grabbing something out of her pocket. "There's more if you can keep this down."

Cohen took the wrapped protein bar with a grateful nod and tore it open. In the absence of conversation, the crinkle of the wrapper seemed especially loud. It tasted good, though, and he had to force himself to eat it slowly enough to not upset his stomach further.

He crumpled the wrapper in his hand and looked around for a trash receptacle. There was one on the other side of the room, but he wasn't going to ask her to do that for him either.

Hesitantly, he pushed on hand against the wall. With great effort he brought himself to a standing position. Saya turned her head and raised her eyebrow, but otherwise, said nothing.

His stomach lurched and his vision blurred, but he just took a deep breath and tried to keep his food down.

"Do you…?"

"No, I got it," he breathed. Leaning against the wall, he just relaxed long enough to gain his bearings. And then he crossed the room, gaining confident and stability with every step. By the time he arrived at his destination, he had gone from unstable staggering to only slightly shaky pacing.

"See?" He grinned triumphantly, to which Saya did absolutely nothing. She turned to her work again.

_I wish she would at least try and be friendly…Not that I can really blame her, I guess._

Now that he was functional, Cohen looked around the room. There was still much to do - they had to figure out a plan, gather supplies, and find out the current state of the colony.

_Right now, though? _He thought, looking at his heart-patterned boxers._ Pants would be nice._


	7. Chapter 7

"So what did you have in mind?"

"Huh?" Neil Cohen glanced over at Saya, who was sitting amongst her pile of electronics, eyebrows raised.

"What do we do now? Will they send another rescue shuttle?"

Her question gave him pause, and Cohen thought about it as he slipped on a thick, grey P-Sec officer's jacket. There were several options here: he could tell her that if they radioed for help and waited long enough, someone would come. Or he could give her the truth. Unless the situation, however it was outside the security room, was absolutely contained, no aid would come for them.

"After what almost happened to the last one," he began carefully, "I don't know if they can risk sending another one for just the two of us."

Saya took a moment to digest the information. Silence filled the room and her expression was completely deadpan.

"We don't know that for sure, though!" He bit his lip as he tried to think of things to reassure her. "Maybe we could talk to them with that," he said, gesturing at the electronics spread before her.

"When you were asleep, I tried once with the regular equipment, but the blizzard must be really bad, because I couldn't get through."

"So we'll think of something else!"

"Since then, I've been seeing if I can augment the range of the equipment here." She briefly met his eyes before looking down again. "There wasn't much to work with, but it might be able to reach the station."

On the best of days, the small, manned space station in Polis IV's atmosphere was difficult to reach. He absolutely wasn't surprised the technology wasn't working now, but he was willing to try anyway.

"Let's give it a go, then!"

Without replying, she stood up and allowed him access to the new and improved communications equipment. Cohen walked over, picked it up, and set it down on a small table.

"Alright, let's see about this," he muttered to himself as he reached down to bring up the interface. Saya's enhancements had done away with the layout he was familiar with.

"It's the green button to broadcast," she said over his shoulder. He felt himself redden slightly at her correct guess, but mumbled a quick "thank ya" before following her direction.

"This is Sergeant Neil Cohen, number 070902 to P-Sec command. _Please_ pick up." He didn't think they would actually pick up, but it seemed to be working, and it would only take a little bit to at least try.

He drew back and glanced over at Saya. She nodded, and he couldn't really tell why, so he decided to take it as approval. After a minute, he decided to repeat his message, and was in the middle of reaching out when the speaker burst with static and startled them both.

"This is P-Sec command to Officer Cohen. Are you hearing us?" The voice was imposing and male. He could definitely imagine someone like his old staff sergeant somewhere up there, leaning over a microphone of his own. The thought comforted him slightly, but it also made him want to be able to see the other person. Normally, the communication system would actually show them on a monitor, but Saya must have cannibalized that to increase the range.

"I need to request a rescue shuttle for me and one more. A survivor. We're not infected, but the station is overrun and we need to get out of here now!"

"Have you been in contact with any other officers?"

"What?" The question caught him off-guard, but he recovered quickly. "No, no I haven't. Not for at least twelve hours, and that was seein' her off in the last shuttle. What about you?"

"You're the only officer we've been able to get through to."

"Okay. Does that mean you'll rescue us soon?"

"Maybe. We have higher priorities at the moment, though."

"What could be more important than savin' lives?" Cohen felt the suspicion in his voice was very much justified.

"There is a person of interest that needs to be apprehended immediately."

"What? Are you saying that you _aren't _sending anyone?"

"No. This is top priority. They may be connected with the outbreak incident."

"How the fuck am I supposed to do that? The whole station is crawling with those things and there's a civilian here! Even if I didn't have to look out for her, I couldn't do this by myself."

"I understand, Sergeant, but you have to look at it from _our_ perspective. If we cannot contain this suspect, then things will become a great deal more complicated. At this point it's not even a question – if there's a chance that we can do this, no matter how slim, we have to take it."

"What if I just don't do it?" The mistrust in Cohen's voice had turned to full blown hostility, but he didn't try to hide it.

"Well, not even thinking about the fact that you're still under company orders, in the theoretical scenario that you resign right now, all your resources would be lost. You would no longer have clearances to open doors, access supplies, and your rescue would be even less of a priority than it is now." The man was cold and unrelenting in his delivery of the ultimatum. "Quite frankly, if you think your chances are slim now, I'd hate to imagine what they'd be without us."

They were _extorting_ him! He could hardly believe it! Grimacing, Cohen thumbed over the mute button and looked over at Saya. He tried to think of something to say, but she heard everything he had and all he could do was to look at the floor and shake his head.

"We have to do it, you know." Although all she could see of the sergeant was his shock of blonde hair, Saya directed her intimidating gaze at him nonetheless.

"Why? I'd rather resign than be blackmailed into doing something!"

"You heard him. He doesn't care if we like it or not, but we need those things. We won't make it out of this wing, let alone the building, if every other door is locked."

"What are we supposed to do? We ain't going to make it anyway! Did you _see_ those things out there?" His voice was laced with despair, and when Cohen looked up, she saw that his eyes were blurry.

"Yes we are." She tried her best to be reassuring, but it really wasn't her thing. "Look at it this way – he wouldn't be so forceful if we weren't his only option."

"What do you mean?" He focused a little, and she took it as a sign to continue.

"He told you himself that he hadn't been able to contact any other officers. He could have been lying, but I don't think he'd have any reason to lie about _that._"

Cohen was silent. He looked like he was thinking it over, and Saya could only hope that he would see it like she did and not give in to despair. Just looking at him, it would've been easy to write him off. But she knew that he had been fighting the creatures outside for days now, with his only real break about to be ruined by backdoor politics.

It also didn't help that she had her own worries. She was just better at hiding hers.

"Call him back. We can't lose this opportunity. Ask him for more information, though. We need to know what we're dealing with."

He nodded in response, and for a minute Saya thought he would chicken out. But he did turn and face the machine, only hesitating for a second before pressing the button.

"Command?" The sergeant's voice was firm, if not even remotely happy. Maybe she hadn't given him enough credit after all.

"Ah, Mr. Cohen. We thought you had given up on us." This man's tone couldn't be any more different if he had tried: he was casual, condescending, and predatory.

"Not just yet. I'll do what you want," Cohen growled, "but you have to help me too."

"Of course, Sergeant! You'll have full access to the colony's security and weapon systems."

"No, I need more. Who am I taking in?"

"Ah, I'm afraid I can't divulge that information quite yet. Don't worry, though, you'll know before long."

Cohen stared at the speaker for a moment before answering. "What do I need to do first?"

"That's the spirit! We need you to go down to one of the science facilities. We need some information in the files there."

"Alright. Where is it?"

"If you'll hold on just a moment, I'll send that information right through. I'll also authorize you to open all doors and weapon lockers."

"So generous of you," Cohen growled.

The speaker apparently chose to ignore that comment, because he went on cheerfully before signing off, "Best of luck to you and your companion!"

Saya heard Cohen sigh, and she merely sat and watched him. Having to do this obviously weighed a great deal on him, but there wasn't any other way. Still, the sinking feeling in her stomach refused to leave.

"Here. You take a breather and I'll program the information in our suits," she said. He looked over, and she nodded to reinforce her point. She was almost certain he was a little suspicious, but apparently not enough to call her on it as he stepped aside, sat down, and gave her access to the system.

Just like he promised, their supervisor sent along the information in short order. Saya looked it over, hoping it would ease her mind. The location they were going to was unfamiliar to her, and it neither confirmed nor denied her suspicions. Still, she couldn't shake the feelings of discomfort.

"If you give me your suit's chip, I'll program everything for you," she mumbled after a moment.

"Alright." Cohen complied easily, passing it over. With a nod, she took the chip, transferred the information, and handed it back. He inserted it in the wrist computer (unlike her full engineering suit, the sergeant's security uniform was not armored and didn't contain as many applications as hers did) and nodded.

"Ready?"

She suppressed a grimace and nodded – she wasn't sure if she'd truly be ready to return to the colony, but for now, it was their only choice.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Shoutout to my awesome beta reader sheikbloop! Enjoy!**_

Saya followed Cohen down the hall, her heart racing. They had walked through the entire commercial district without either conversation or conflict. Although that fact should have reassured her, it only seemed to heighten the tension she felt.

"Are we almost there?" The sergeant glanced back at her with slight apprehension. He must have been feeling the same thing, because he had kept his rifle drawn and ready the entire time.

"Almost," she replied after glancing down at her holographic map. They were almost at the science facilities – the public ones, at least. Even though the labs she had woken up by were private and in another location completely, she couldn't shake the feeling that they were connected.

Cohen just nodded vaguely before turning back and walking towards the next door slowly. It was the elevator; the science labs were a couple of stories above the ground. Saya tensed as he pressed the button – one of the creatures had been waiting for her when she last used one. Although she doubted that the same thing would happen twice, she raised her own weapon as well and stepped out from behind Cohen.

She could just imagine the thing lurking, waiting for the doors to open. What if they couldn't stop it this time? She had seen enough of them to know that there were different types – what if the one waiting in the elevator was something even stronger than a "normal" one? It could easily kill both her and the sergeant before they even -

"It's not going," Cohen said, lowering his rifle as he pushed the button again.

"What?" She blinked and looked over.

"It's not working," he repeated, looking at her with a worried expression. "Is there another way up?"

"Hold on," she said with a sigh, and stepped forward. "Look!"

"Huh?"

"The power's not on."

"But everything else in here works," Cohen said, looking at the lights in the ceiling.

Saya shrugged and holstered the plasma cutter in her belt before stepping forward to examine the dull interface. Removing the panel, she looked around at the wires, and her answer was immediately evident. She didn't know why someone would do it, but almost all of the wires were snipped in the middle.

"Well," she announced to Cohen, backing up so she could look at him, "Someone cut the power. That's why it's not working."

"Why would someone do that?" He frowned at her. "Taking out one of your only exits seems like a pretty stupid move to me."

"Unless they had a reason to," she muttered, sighing as she looked back in the panel and began to pull the necessary tools from her belt.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," she said, louder and more clearly this time, "I can fix it though. It'll just take a couple of minutes."

"Alright." At this point, Cohen wasn't even bothering to hide his worry – she could hear it in his voice and as he turned to lean against the wall, Saya saw him fiddle anxiously with his rifle.

Having decided previously that she wasn't good at being comforting (along with the fact she was extremely uneasy herself), she just decided that getting this over with would be the easiest way. She had just barely begun examining the wires when Cohen tapped her on the shoulder.

"What is –"

"Sh!" His grey eyes were wide as he glanced from her to the hall they had just come down, "I thought I heard something."

Saya paused herself. Was he being paranoid or had he actually heard something? Deciding that paranoia, in this situation at least, probably wasn't a bad thing, she nodded back and joined him in watching the hallway.

After about a minute, they still hadn't heard anything. And then a clang, slightly muffled but still audible, resounded through the air. She saw Cohen start beside her and barely managed to restrain herself.

Turning to the sergeant, she whispered, "What do we do now?"

**:: ::**

Cohen paused to think it over. He knew that the station was crawling with necromorphs, whether or not they personally had seen any on their way here. It wasn't implausible that it was just wandering randomly and had no knowledge of them. But it would be stupid to ignore the other possibility – that at some point it had caught wind of them and was investigating further.

"Stay here," he murmured, reaching over to pat her arm gently before grabbing his rifle.

"What are you doing?" Her tone was hushed but alarmed, and she shifted slightly to look him in the eye.

"I'm just checking this out. We have to see whether or not it's anything we need to worry about."

Saya was silent for a moment before replying, "Better safe than sorry."

"Exactly." Ignoring the fact that both scenarios were equally likely, Cohen stepped forward and began his walk down the hall. He winced at the sounds his boots made, but there was no real way to help that.

He couldn't hear Saya behind him, so he assumed she had actually listened. A small miracle, considering she didn't seem like the type to take instruction without good reason. As it stood, the only noises in the hall were his own, something that only made him even more nervous.

And then there it was again. A small tap. On its' own, it wouldn't be cause for suspicion, but right now, it was all the confirmation he needed. He raised the rifle and looked down the sights, careful not to miss a single detail.

The first thing Cohen saw was the long claws of the creature as it began to round the corner. His heart skipped a beat, and he immediately dropped to a crouch. It wouldn't do much at all, but maybe it would buy a few seconds until he was able to figure out exactly what to do.

It came into full view, and the moment it turned, it would see them. He raised his rifle, looked down the sights, took a deep breath, and fired.

The creature screeched in anger as Cohen's bullets tore into its arm. Without hesitation, it screeched again and charged.

**:: ::**

As soon as the her companion opened fire, Saya immediately began her work on the elevator She wouldn't – couldn't just sit there and waste time while he risked his life, and judging by the way the creature had fallen due to Cohen's expert shooting, she would be more of a hindrance than a help in combat.

"Saya!" She looked back to see Cohen looking at her. Whatever state of despair he had been in earlier, he must've been able to soldier through it. His face was steely and confident, replacing the hesitance and fright that had filled it earlier.

He almost looked like he knew what he was doing.

"I'm working as fast as I can!" she yelled back – there was no use for stealth now.

"You better work fast, 'cause I hear them coming!"

She paused. If she focused enough, she could hear the vague screams of the creatures as they approached.

_Shit._

She continued to work, fusing the necessary wires together. It was similar to the process of repairing her suit, but she still had to be careful. There weren't going to be many second chances now.

Shots rang out from behind her, and it took all her will not to turn around and see what was happening. The best way she could help Cohen (and herself) would be to get the elevator working.

She couldn't fail now.

**:: ::**

_Aw, shit! _Cohen was pulling the trigger of his rifle, but instead of bullets, all he heard was nothing. Sprawled in front of him were several dismembered corpses, a sight that would've been infinitely more pleasing had it not been for the live one quickly approaching.

He reached to his belt for another magazine, but he didn't have the time to slap it in before it was nearly on him. It screamed in triumph as it slashed, and it was only his quick instincts that saved him as he used his rifle to block the slash.

_Shit! It's strong!_ The rifle might have saved him from the one blow, but unless he stopped it, it wouldn't matter. And the necromorph was strong – far stronger than any human being. His eyes widened as he saw the tip of the claw approaching his face slowly but surely.

Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to push back. He could feel the muscles in his arms shaking already, and he knew that there was no way to win this particular struggle.

_Just think, there has to be something you can – _

His thoughts were interrupted by the sight of a second claw hacking down, and he did the only thing he could: to dodge. Cohen dropped to the floor and rolled, but it wasn't quite quick enough – as he saw the creature stumble, he also felt a searing pain in his upper arm. There wasn't any time to deal with it, though, and he stood and backed up as he tried to think of something else. The plasma rifle had been knocked to the floor, but it was useless now anyway.

He reached for the pistol in his belt – he had found a new one in the security room after losing the first weapon in the failed rescue attempt. He quickly shot at the creature's most exposed area – its neck. Blood shot out from the wounds and it stumbled again, but it wasn't dying. And he highly doubted that the pistol would work for _that._

"Cohen! Hurry!"

His stomach clenched. Had they managed to get behind him? Raising the pistol, he whirled around to see what Saya was yelling about.

Concern turned to relief as he saw her standing in front of the open elevator instead of being attacked. There wasn't enough time to relish the moment, though. He looked back at the necromorph. It was almost up again, and he barely had enough time to grab his rifle and start sprinting back before it was pursuing him.

"Duck!"

The words registered, but Cohen kept running. He could hear it on his heels, and he knew that if he stopped, he was a dead man. But he knew that if he kept running, he was also dead. There was no way he could outrun it either. He had to trust Saya knew what she was doing. But did she?

Biting his bottom lip and closing his eyes, he threw himself into a jump that carried him away from the necromorph. In less than a second, it would be on him. _Please oh god no don't let me die please please please…_

His back hit the wall abruptly, and a second passed. When he looked up to see why he wasn't disemboweled yet, he opened his eyes. The creature was still pursuing him, but it was surrounding by a blue aura. More important, though, was the fact that its movements were slowed to a crawl.

_Why the hell didn't I think of that before?_

He only had a moment to appreciate the sheer genius of that before one of its arms was blown away. He looked at Saya, who was wielding the plasma cutter with intense concentration.

The sight was almost striking, but he didn't have time to appreciate that properly either – he could hear even more necromorphs coming from down the hall. He stood and sprinted to the open elevator where she was waiting for him.

"Good to go!" he yelled, joining her in shooting at the rapidly approaching creatures. As soon as he stepped in, the door began to close, but they were so close.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Saya run out of ammo in her clip. The closest one was less than five feet away from the door now, and Cohen aimed straight for its eyes.

His clicked empty as well.

_Oh fuck._

And then the doors closed. It banged against the door, but it was all in vain, as they had already begun to ascend. It was over. They had made it.

Cohen sighed deeply. He could still feel his heart pounding against his chest, but it didn't matter.

"Very nice," he said, looking over to Saya and grinning, "But next time, let's not cut it so close."

"Now _that's_ something I can agree with." She returned the look. Sans grin, of course. Still, he could tell she was as relieved as he was.

"You know that's twice now, right?"

"Twice what?" She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"You've saved my life twice now."

"Oh."

Reaching over to give her a clap on the shoulder, Cohen grinned even wider. "You were fuckin' _ace_ out there. I gotta say, if you were a part of my old squad, you'd have several medals by now!"

"Too bad I just had to be an engineer."

"Engineer or not, you're just as good as any of them! I know it."

Saya glanced at the stainless steel doors and sincerely hoped he wouldn't regret his words later.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry it took so long to put this chapter out! All I can say is that university is really kicking my butt. Now that I've got a grip of things, though, I'll try to be better about updating. If it comes to the point where I know I won't be able to update for a while, I'll be better and definitely let you guys know. As always, I don't own anything from the Dead Space universe. Thanks for reading, and enjoy! **_

**:: ::**

As the elevator door slid open, Cohen gathered his courage and peered out at the laboratory. Most of the lights were out and he could hardly see a thing.

Why couldn't the lights be working just _once_? That was all he wanted.

Biting his lower lip, he took the first apprehensive step out. He could hear Saya behind him – he wondered whether or not she was as frightened as he was. No matter what happened, she was always quick to think of a plan, and even quicker to put it into action (usually to his benefit), but Cohen couldn't help but wonder about her. The only thing he knew for certain about her was the fact that he really knew nothing at all.

There would be time for that later, though. Time preferably spent not creeping around in a deserted, possibly infested laboratory.

"Let's just get this over with," he mumbled. With a jerk of his head, he indicated one of the few well-lit areas – the scientists' desks on the other side of the room. As they slowly walked past the work stations, Cohen couldn't help but think of his old chemistry classes, the ones everyone was forced to take and that he failed miserably at.

He bet Saya hadn't failed chemistry.

"Here we go," he said, more to himself than Saya, as he started up the computers. The silence of the room was broken by the dull hum of the computers as they booted up.

After a second, the systems lit up, and Cohen looked over at Saya.

"Can you get this? You're better at all this technology shit that I am."

She nodded in response and took his place at the computer, only pausing to holster her weapon before she went to work.

_Meanwhile, I better phone our friend and see what he wants. _Cohen went to the chair on the other side of the desk and sat down. As he brought up the holographic comm interface, he couldn't help a sigh – he didn't like the thought of talking to their contact at all, but he disliked the idea of staying here even more than that.

"This is Officer Cohen to P-Sec Command," he said tersely, drumming his fingers on the table.

"Ah, Sergeant! We were afraid you had run into trouble." The voice sounded very much like he wouldn't have minded that one bit, but Cohen wasn't going to be the one to tell him _that._

"Nope. Now what do we need to do?"

"And right to the point! I knew you'd be a good choice." The voice paused to laugh before continuing. "First, log on to the computer systems."

"Done."

"Good. Now listen carefully…"

Before the voice started rattling off instructions, Cohen made sure to increase the volume so Saya could follow along. After she gave him a quick, affirmative nod, Saya followed the directions.

He wasn't quite sure how she did it. Her fingers flew across the keyboard, and to Cohen, it was a mystery how she could type so fast, let alone understand the speaker enough to understand _what_ to type.

While she was working, Cohen surveyed the lab. It appeared to be abandoned, but he wasn't ready to write it off that easily. It was hard to see, though, given the large size of the room and the lack of light. He could discern the work stations in the middle of the room and a larger table on the other side, but other than that, nothing. There was a particularly dark space on the other side of the room enveloped in shadows that he wanted to look at, but his thoughts were interrupted by the voice again.

"Sergeant!"

"Huh? What?" He swiveled in the chair and turned his attention back to the comm system, wondering what he missed. Saya was standing back and fiddling with a data chip, so he assumed she was done.

"Don't think you're done with us quite yet. I have a couple of questions for you."

"I dunno if you noticed, but we're in the middle of a fucking incident. Can't it wait?"

The normally cordial voice now turned insistent himself. "We are quite aware, Sergeant. We need to know a couple of things before we can continue."

"Make it quick then."

"Of course. Have you or your partner been experiencing anything unusual?" And just like that, the speaker was back to his usual, calm tone.

"You're gonna have to be more specific, sir. This whole thing is 'unusual.'"

"Have either of you suffered from blackouts or visions?"

_What?_ He had been scared shitless, often confused, and almost killed on several occasions, but he hadn't felt for a single moment that he hadn't been in complete control of himself or his senses. He glanced quickly to Saya, and she shook her head.

"No. Why?"

"Our reports have indicated that prolonged exposure to the virus may cause these systems. And as of right now, you and your friend are the people we know who've been in there the longest."

Cohen wasn't sure how to answer. Maybe the two of them just hadn't been exposed long enough – not that that reassured him either.

"Neither of us have been…or seen anything like that," he finally said.

"We'll keep an eye on that."

_Yeah, I bet you will._

"Now, just one more. Who is your companion?"

Now that caught him by surprise. Why should he care who Cohen was with?

"A survivor."

"Yes, I gathered that. But who is he?"

"She," he corrected automatically as he glanced over at Saya. She was frowning, and suddenly Cohen was reluctant to answer. But he knew he had to.

"Her name is Sarah. She works – worked, in ITS."

His stomach was in knots, and he glanced over at Saya to see if he did the right thing. She had reverted from disapproval to her usual state of neutrality, though, and wasn't giving him any feedback.

_Good enough._

"Alright. I'll transmit your next destination to your RIG. Your access is still intact, but contact us if you need anything further, or if you do begin to experience anything strange."

"Sure," Cohen growled, but the other man had already signed off.

_Well, fuck you too._

He clicked it off and sighed. He was _so_ done with P-Sec when this was all over.

**:: ::**

"Why'd you lie?" Saya blurted out. Almost immediately she regretted it and felt her face flush.

Cohen looked around, apparently unsure now that he was put on the spot. "I don't know. I just..." He sighed. "I really don't like that guy."

She could tell that pretty easily, but she doubted that was completely it. The sergeant must have had a reason.

Still, she knew better than to look the metaphorical horse in the mouth.

"Alright, if that's all we need, let's take a look at this and -"

"Should I have lied?"

Now it was _her_ turn to get caught off-guard. When she glanced back to Cohen, his eyebrows were furrowed and he wasn't smiling.

She swallowed. How was she supposed to respond to that? Especially when she didn't know the answer herself.

She was quiet, trying not to betray any of the hesitancy that pervaded her system. The thought occurred to her that telling the truth might not be the right answer. Even if she did know, the two of them didn't know much about each other at all. If they had met before this disaster, would she have even given him the time of day? Would they have ever gotten to know, even trust each other?

Saya didn't know that either. What she did, though, was the fact that he had helped her when he didn't have to. Her own sense of self-preservation urged her to reassure him, but she knew it wouldn't be right.

"I'm not sure," she finally said. Her quiet words didn't have much effect on Cohen, and he continued to stare at her, his normally calm expression unreadable.

"Let's just get the fuck outta here," he responded after a moment, holstering the plasma rifle over his shoulder.

Saya was surprised he didn't inquire further. Again, she couldn't think of the right response, so she nodded in affirmation as they began to head towards the door. They had just came across the workstations in the middle again when they heard a sound, the shatter of glass breaking against the floor. Saya froze before thinking better of it – withdrawing the plasma cutter from her belt, she glanced at Cohen, looking from him to the door.

His grey eyes followed her gaze, but then he bit his lip in hesitation.

_Really? Come on!_

"We need to leave, she whispered. In hindsight, they had been talking out loud earlier, so it seemed kind of silly to start being stealthy now, but still.

"What if it's another survivor? We gotta be sure we don't leave _anyone _behind."

Her response to his words was mixed. On the one hand, she highly doubted that there had been a survivor just lying there helplessly as the two of them stood within earshot the entire time. However, he was whispering too. That meant she wasn't crazy. Or at least, she wasn't going crazy _alone._

"They would've radioed in already," she told him, gesturing to the door, "If they were in need of trouble."

"I don't want to be here either, but we have to know for sure." Cohen glanced around the room uneasily as if it would save him from his dilemma. "Look, you just stay here, I'll be right back. We need to know for sure." He then tried to shoot her what she thought was a reassuring look.

_Like hell I am!_

"Wait up!" she hissed, and then followed him.

They weaved through the tables, Cohen looking for any signs of a poor, stranded soul and Saya alert for any signals that swooping death was imminent.

"I think it came from over there," he said, raising his rifle as he led them towards the other side of the room. At least he wasn't being completely senseless.

The other side of the table was full of tables and a large counter. Judging from the now dim vending machine, Saya thought this was the break area. While she personally thought breaking in the same room as dangerous chemicals resided in was just asking for trouble, it probably didn't matter now.

Lingering at the edge, she watched as Cohen looked around for the source of the shattering noise. Trash of all kinds littered the floor, though, and there were no other clues that anyone had resided here.

Cohen was peering under a table when something caught Saya's attention. A shiny glimmer from behind the counter caught the light when she stood a certain way, and she squinted to examine further. It looked like glass to her. To her, it looked like a beaker.

_That might be what we're looking for._

Before moving to inspect it, she shot a glance at Cohen – the sergeant was still looking around at all the tables. Snorting slightly, she shook her head and moved towards the glass.

As she rounded the corner, she couldn't' suppress the gasp that was a result from figuring out there was more to this picture than a broken beaker.

Lying in a pool of blood was a gun. The blood appeared to be dry, but it simply covered the floor in such a way that she knew whoever had sustained the injury couldn't have survived.

That being said, she didn't know who it came from. The body was gone, the obvious question being where it went, but Saya had the feeling she didn't really want to know.

"Cohen," she managed to choke out, "I think we need to leave."

"Why?" The sergeant frowned as he approached her, only to blanch as he saw it too.

"Let's…let's leave," he finally agreed. Thanking whatever higher power there was that he hadn't pushed the issue, Saya began to head for the door with Cohen in tow.

And then they heard it. At first it started as a low grumbling, but another tumble prompted Saya to glance behind them.

Amongst the shadows, she made out a small movement. Any sign of inhabitation was unwelcome, though, and she began running for the door. Luckily, it was still on this floor, something she was also extremely grateful for.

Not wasting any time, they both went inside the elevator. Cohen pressed the 'down' button with a sigh of relief, and they waited for the elevator to start.

But it didn't.

_What the hell?_ _Why isn't it working?_

Saya quickly dropped to her knees, removed one of the panels, and paled as she saw the problem. While the elevator was able to be controlled from the floor below, it wouldn't work here. Whoever had disabled the elevator had apparently wanted to be as thorough as possible. All of the wires had been cut. Every single one.

Not that she couldn't fix this. But she would need a bit of time. And as she looked out again at the open laboratory, she saw a large, spider-like creature emerge from the shadows.

"Aw shit," she heard Cohen mutter beside her as he backed up against the wall.

_Aw shit indeed._


End file.
